Ghosts of Christmas
by JEBS
Summary: A trip to the hospital, brings up bad memories and some unexpected Christmas spirits.
1. The dreaded Lurgi

**Ghosts of Christmas **

**A trip to the hospital, brings up bad memories and some unexpected Christmas spirits. **

**This was supposed to be a one shot for Christmas, but I'm afraid real life got in the way of me finishing it in time, so I thought I'd better put out what I've got before it really was pointless. I will finish it in short order though. Let me know what you think.**

**Disclaimer: Don't own them, just play with them.**

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"Just kill me now it would be cheaper and less painful." Dean groaned and hunched over further trying to ease the pain in his stomach.

Sam laid a comforting hand on his brothers' back, offering what little support he could under the circumstances.

"You going to be sick again?" He questioned gently, rubbing his hand in small circles on his brothers back. The very fact that the elder boy didn't immediately shrug him off, a true measure of how truly terrible Dean must be feeling.

Sam grabbed the basin from the seat beside him just in time and held it as Dean heaved up what little moister was left too him, his body trembling with the effort.

When he had finished, Sam tried to coax a little water into him but Dean only pulled away from him groaning mutely, his head once more coming to rest in his hands as he fought off another wave of nausea.

Patting his brothers shoulder, he got up. "I'll see if I can hurry things up." It was all he could do.

Moving to the front desk, he tried without any real success too attract the dower looking receptionists attention.

Waiting he let his mind wander, they had been suffering from a string of bad luck to put it mildly, first the impala had twisted its rear axles during a truly impressive high speed chase involving the entire cast of deliverance and some guy who looked disturbingly like Pa Clampit, who seem intent on either killing Sam for dishonouring his daughter or making him marry her, after he had caught him in bed with her. Of course in his defence he had just fallen through the roof and daddies little girl had to be well over 200lb and more than a little pleased to see him. It was the type of thing that only happened in the movies or to Dean.

Thinking of his brother Sam glanced over to where Dean sat slumped in his hard backed hospital chair, looking greyer than he'd ever seen him and sighed. Getting the impala fixed had wiped out most of their cash and every single credit card they had, but they would have been fine, they where Winchesters after all and Winchesters where nothing if not resourceful. If Dean hadn't got food poisoning.

Yes ladies and Gentlemen, he silently announced to the world, rolling his eyes as he did so, Dean Winchester hunter extraordinaire, hater of all holidays had been taken out of the game by a truck stop Turkey and stuffing sandwich eaten in some misguided, and entirely uncharacteristic attempt at capturing the festive spirit. Oh yes and to cap it all off, Dean had discovered his little culinary mistake when he had thrown up all over the shoes of an exceptionally large trucker who he was trying to hustle at pool, so they had enough money for a night in a cheap hotel.

That was two days ago and they had been driving ever since, sleeping in the car when they needed too, just trying to find a place to hole up till his brother got better, and in all that time Dean hadn't been able to keep so much as a glass of water down.

So here they were sitting in the emergency room reception of the tiny Mayville community hospital, Mayville North Dakota two days before Christmas with no money and literally no place to call home.

Sam was about to give up his quest for attention, when a tired looking nurse tapped him on the shoulder. "Mr. Connor, the doctor can see your brother now."

Walking over to his brother Sam pulled Dean to his feet, smiling at him with distinctly false cheer. "Hey, they can see us now and it only took five hours, this must be a record." Dean just groaned as the world began to spin, he had no choice but too lean heavily on his brother as they followed they nurse into the examination area.

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The harassed looking Doctor pulled off her gloves and turned to Sam, giving Dean a moment to get comfortable. Not that the examination had gone that badly, he'd only thrown up twice and he'd missed the doctor both times, which considering how bad he had been was a definite improvement.

"What exactly did he eat?"

"A Turkey sandwich."

"Fowl, then."

"Yes it was." Dean commented from the bed, his humour somewhat restored by the prospect of medical intervention.

"At least it wasn't Salmon moose." The doctor smiled for the first time, a glint of humour lighting up her tired eyes. Of course, it was entirely lost on Sam.

"What?"

"Monty python sketch, they all die." Supplied Dean. "You're a Brit then?"

"How did you guess? The woman smirked, her ascent was a bit of a give away.

"How did you end up here?"

"Married a Marine, his family are local." Worry and regret bled through the statement and Sam tensed, glancing at his brother only to see his own expression mirrored there.

"He's in Iraq."

"I'm sorry."

She nodded at the words and the understanding that underlined them.

"So am I'"

Pulling herself together she returned to business. "I'll see about running some tests but I'm pretty confident that you've just got food poisoning caused by salmonella. I'll give you something to help with the vomiting and see if we can't get some fluids into you, as you're a bit dehydrated."

The doctor made swift work of setting up an I.V and administering a shot of Composene. Then giving Deans leg a sympathetic pat, she gestured Sam outside.

"I see you didn't give any insurance details on your brothers form, I was wondering how you wanted to proceed."

Sam just looked down at his shoes and blushed, he hated this part of their lives, he hated the way it made him feel and the way people looked at them.

"We don't have any insurance right now……. or money." Sam trailed off.

Dr. March pinched the bridge of her nose; her headache had suddenly got a whole lot worse. "Look Sam I can stabilise your brother, that's no problem but once he's rehydrated I can't make the case for keeping him in, not without being assured of some kind of payment. I'm sorry."

Sam looked up and met the womans eyes, seeing genuine regret there. "We'll be alright." They would have to be.

"I know you will." She reached out and patted his arm sympathetically. "I'll see about getting your brother some pills to help with the vomiting. Now go sit with him, it'll take a while for the I.V to run through, so I'll see you later."

Sam returned to the cubical to find his brother laying on his side, his head pressed up against the cool metal railing.

"Watch your I.V" he instructed.

Dean only grunted in response, moving the arm with the I.V in it to hang off the bed.

Sam moved to sit on the edge of Deans bed, his back was killing him from trying to sleep in the car last night and the cold he had been nursing for the last couple of days was once more making itself known. "That bad, hu? The meds helping at all?"

"Yeah, some. At least the vomitings stopped." Dean glanced up at his brother. "They're kicking us out aren't they? He sounded so warn down.

"Yeah, once the I.Vs gone through." Sam sighed, lying down on his side so his back coming to rest up against his brothers; he was too exhausted to do anything else. Sleeping in the back of the Impala was uncomfortable at the best of times for somebody his size; add in the fact that he was sharing the cramped space with his constantly vomiting brother and he hadn't been doing much sleeping in the last couple of days. "We might be able to scrape up enough for a room." He offered.

Dean snorted. "Not and eat."

"With the amount you've been eating lately we may be O.K." Sam smiled.

Dean managed a faint chuckle at that. "We should just keep driving, try and get somewhere warmer. We've got enough for a couple of tanks of gas. Do you think Bobby would take us in for a bit?"

"Yeah Dean, Yeah he would." Bobby maybe a crotchety old bastard some times but he would never turn them away. Except there was no way two tanks of gas would get them there and the way he was feeling right now he doubts he'll be any more successful than Dean at hustling.

"We've had worse Christmases you know." Even 17 years on he still couldn't remember what had happened without feeling a rising sense of panic.

Sam reached behind himself to pat Deans arm, understanding the meaning behind those words all to well. He could still hear the blind panic in his brothers voice, screaming his name as Child Protective Services had pulled them apart. Thank God for Jim, if the priest hadn't gotten to them in time Sam had no doubt he would have grown up without either his father or brother, and that just wasn't expectable, not anymore.

"No not our worst. Our first without Dad though." He nearly kicked himself for saying it out load, even though they had both been thinking it.

"Yes. Yes it is." Sam winced at the raw loss in his brothers voice. "Get some sleep, Sammy. We'll be on the road soon enough."

The bed shifted as they both moved to try and get comfortable, each silently wondering how many times, they'd slept like this growing up.

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Dr. Kate March lent her head back against the wall and closed her eyes, she hadn't meant to listen but now she had she didn't know what to do, neither of those boys were in any condition to be driving anywhere. Sighing she pushed off the wall, whatever she was going to do it was it was it going to have to be soon and it was going to have to be creative.

"Liz, I need a favour." The nurses head shot up as her friend walked to her desk, already sensing trouble. "Have you sent the Connor samples down to the lab yet?"

"Yes. They went about 10 minutes ago."

"Good. Can you call down and tell him to put a code 4 on them."

Lizs' eyebrows pulled together, she didn't exactly know what a code 4 was but whenever she heard Kate us it their normally efficient little lab suddenly started producing a lot of inconclusive results and losing reports. "Kate." She warned.

"Come on Liz, it's Christmas."

Liz gave her a flat look. "I'm Jewish."

"Well think of it as a mitzvah then."

Liz let out an explosive breath, giving in. "Fine, I'll set up the side room. There's a chance Old Scrooge won't notice them there, but if we get caught I'm blaming it all on you."

"O.k" Kate smiled feeling better than she had all day. "Thanks Liz."

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Sam woke to the sound of the curtain being pulled back, looking up at the smiling doctor he reached over to shake his brother awake, it was time to get moving.

"I'm sorry gentleman, but I'm afraid we're going to have to keep you a while longer."

Sam got to his feet instantly worried, but the doctor just continued to smile.

"Nothing to serious but it could be contagious, and in the case of communicable diseases we have to take extra precautions to avoid an epidemic, if we're not careful it could be as bad as the British Lurgi outbreak."

Dean snorted, trying to suppress a laugh.

"Yes mam, that would be very bad."

"Yes it would." The doctor agreed, her face was deadly serious but her eyes were dancing with amusement. "I'm having Nurse Dawson, move you both up to the wards for observation, the tests shouldn't take more than a couple of days." With that she left, leaving behind a stunned Sam and Dean smirking.

"So this Lurgi's bad then."

"Yep, it nearly wiped out Britain, they had questions in parliament." Dean smirked. His brother wasn't usually this slow, he really must be sick.

"But they did cure it?" Sam was beginning to get worried.

"No need." The elder Winchester paused, thinking. "They did form a pretty good band though."

Sam was completely confused now. Dean just patted him on the leg sympathetically.

"Cheer up Francis we've got a bed for the night."

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Dean woke up from a deep sleep to the feeling he was being watched, sitting up he stared slack jawed at the small child with a crutch standing in his doorway.

"Great now I'm hallucinating the ghost of tiny Tim."

"Andy. Andy." A voice called from down the corridor, getting closer which each call, till a boy about 8 years old appeared at the door. "Andy what are you doing here? You aren't supposed to leave the ward, it could be dangerous." The boy was eyeing him suspiciously.

Dean snorted derisively, his head was spinning and it felt like the temperature in the room had suddenly dropped about ten degrees. "Believe me kid I'm having trouble staying up right, I aint no danger."

Andy, half his hand stuck in his mouth slipped out of his brothers protective grasp and hobbled over to Deans bed, sticking his hands out with a silent demand of up. The gesture had so much of Sam at that age in it that Dean responded to it without thinking, settling the child by his side.

"He your little brother then? A bit quite isn't he? The elder Winchester commented to the older boy who had come over to hover protectively at his brothers side.

"He doesn't talk, not since Mum and Dad died." He stuck his chin out as if challenging Dean to comment.

"Yeah, I didn't feel much like talking after my Mum died either." The boys face softened, a look of understanding passing between them. "He'll get over it?"

"Will he?" The child seemed genuinely surprised by the certainty behind the statement.

"He's got you hasn't he?" Dean looked the boy straight in the eye, staring him down till he finally nodded. "And big brothers always look after little brothers. Right?" This time the child answered. "Yes."

"So he'll be fine." Dean smiled and this time the boy smiled back, coming to sit on the side of the bed. The room began to thaw in more ways than one.

Speaking of little brothers where the hell was his.

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It was amazing much better something as simple as a shower could make you feel, sure his head still felt like it was stuffed with cotton wool and Dean wasn't helping. It had taken his brother over half an hour to admit that the Lurgi was a fictitious disease from an old British comedy show called the Goon show. Which confused the hell out of Sam, since when did Dean even get British humour?

Heading back to their room, he was more than a little surprised to find Dean sitting on his bed with two small boys playing cards.

Dean looked up, smiling. "Andy, Nathan meet my little brother Sam."

Both boys stared at Sam, gawking.

"He's not very little is he?" Whispered the eldest a bit uncertainly, making Dean laugh.

The four of them played cards for about an hour before the other children turned up, not that they're was many of them, just a little girl in pink Barbie pyjamas and a pale boy about Nathans age with no hair.

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Dr Williams stormed down the corridor a picture of righteous indignation. How dare she! That woman had pulled some stunts in the past but this really took the biscuit, passing off a simple case of food poisoning as a communicable disease to get not one but two vagrants beds for the night. He would have her job for this.

He was pulled up short by the sound of laughter coming from the hospitals isolation room; a tiny two bedded room located between the hospitals two small wards. Peering cautiously into the room he spotted a young man with dark blond hair sitting with his back against the walk, the youngest of the two Cartright boys nestled in his lap sucking his fingers, both staring intently at cards in the young mans hands.

"Read them and weep Sammy boy." The man lay the cards in front of him, grinning before reaching down to tickle the sides of the little boy in his arm, the childs infectious giggling soon causing the rooms other occupants laughing too. The lights flickered slightly seemingly in response to the laughter and the young man looked up with strange expressions on their face, but then he shrugged and the moment passed.

Dear God they were playing poker, shock completely robbed Williams of the ability to act, all he could do was stare at the scene before him.

Another man with dark brown hair man lay on the floor opposite the first, his long body taking up most of the rooms limited space, a bald pyjama clad child sprawled across his back reading the mans cards over his shoulder, while another rested with his back up against his side staring forlornly at his own cards, which where already lain on the ground in defeat .A pink clad girl who seemed more interested in eating her winnings and pick at the frayed edge of the pillow she sat on than the actual game finished off the group.

"Not so fast, Dean." 'Sammy' slapped 'Deans' hand away as he reached out to snag the pile of peanut M & Ms that were obviously the pot, before placing his own cards on the floor, laughing at his brothers shocked face. It was a rare thing for Sam to beat his brother at poker.

Still laughing he reached over his shoulder to give Gary his half of the winnings, but the child pushed his hand away. "I'm not allowed."

"Why? You're not allergic are you?" Dean could think of no other reason for resisting the chocolate covered goodness.

"No, Mum only lets me eat totally organic food and no sugar. She thinks if I eat right and don't do anything she can stop me dieing. She's wrong." He spoke as if what he was saying was a simple statement of fact but they could all hear the underlying bitterness in his words.

Dr. Williams was still watching the little scene play out from the shadowed corridor, so he saw the muscles twitch in the older mans jaw but whatever emotions he was feeling were quickly suppressed, leaving behind a mask of calm.

"Man dieing and no sugar, that's got to suck. Sugar is like one of the two main food groups."

Picking up fast, the younger chimed in "Of course Dean thinks the other is caffeine. Why he isn't constantly bouncing off the walls I'll never know. Mind you, Dad did have to lock him in the bathroom once after he ate an entire pound of jelly beans and a litre of Coke in under 15 minutes."

"Dude he did not lock me in. I just couldn't leave, and anyway I would never have done it if you hadn't bet me I couldn't. It was a complete waste of perfectly good candy."

"Dean you where 20, I didn't think you would actually do it."

The kids roared with laughter and Gary reached out to snag a couple of pieces of candy meeting Deans eyes as he did so.

"Hey I'm not your Mother, just leave enough for the pot." Gary smiled at the compassion and simple acceptance he found in the elder Winchesters eyes. He was thoroughly sick of being pitied.

Williams almost smiled at the two young mens antics, he new experienced doctors who wouldn't have dealt with the situation as well as these boys and they were right a little chocolate wouldn't make any difference to the child now, nothing short of a miracle would. He should be allowed to have a life while he still could.

Making a decision, he slipped away.

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"Come on children time for bed." They looked up to see Margaret the night sister standing in the doorway ready to usher the groaning children off to bed.

The children went with out to much complaint, although they each insisted on saying goodnight to Sam and Dean first, causing Dean to blush when Susie the little girl insisted on giving him a kiss.

"Right." Margaret was well into her sixties and feisty. "I'll be back to tuck you boys in, in a minute."

Dean groaned and rested his head back against the wall, his eyes closing.

"Come on man, lets get you up off the floor."

Sam reached down and pulled his brother to his feet, steadying him when he began to wobble. "I thought you were feeling better."

"Dude, this is better." Dean settled back on his bed, just as Margaret re-entered the room a tray in her hands.

"I brought you boys some soup."

Dean groaned again, still not sure he could keep anything down.

"Doctors orders." She smiled. "If you eat your soup, I'll see about getting you some ice cream."

"Margaret what happened to Andy and Nathans parents?" The womans cheerful face fell at Sam question and she teared up slightly.

"Oh, those poor boys." She closed her eyes briefly. "It was a car accident, a drunk driver. The whole family was in the car, their father was killed instantly but their mother managed to hang on for a while, but she stilled died at the scene though. The boys were lucky though, Andy broke his leg but Nathan only had some bruises." She paused, paling slightly. "Still it took them over an hour to cut them out. I can't imagine what it would be like watching your parents die like that."

Both boys nodded, feeling a little sick, before Sam asked curiously. "If they're both O.K why are they still here?"

"There's no one to take them in, no family and this close to Christmas child protective services is really backed up. They wanted to split them up to make them easier to place." She saw the way both boys paled at this and tried to clarify what she was saying, as it was very clear to her that the two boys in front of her had had some bad experiences with CPS and weren't likely to give them the benefit of the doubt. "They're not bad people, at least not most of them but this isn't a big town, they have hardly anything to work with. They do the best they can."

Dean snorted derisively, but Sam was the one to speak. "So you're trying to give them time to figure something out?"

"Hopefully." She sighed, but didn't sound very confident. "Mostly we didn't want the boys separated for Christmas, they've been through so much already. Doctor March sorted it out" she winked and smiled the boys. "she has a soft spot for waifs and strays."

They both smiled back.

"Thanks, Margaret."

She just smiled in acknowledgement.

"You boys eat up and get some sleep." She moved to leave, but then turned back. "I'm glad you two are here, I haven't seen either of those children smile before today."

They sat in silence for a while lost in their own thoughts, Dean picking at his soup before turning in. It had been a long day.

As they drifted off a cool breeze caressed each of their cheeks, lulling them into a dreamless sleep.

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Sam wasn't sure what woke him up other than the fact that the room was suddenly colder. Deciding to take a quick trip to the bathroom, he swung his legs over the side of the bed.

Once in the corridor he was a little surprised to find the lights off but a gentle glow coming from around the corner allowed him to see, so he didn't think to much of it. To be honest he wasn't capable of doing much in the way of thinking right now, his cold seemed to have decided to step things up a notch and all he wanted to do was get back to bed.

He headed around the corner only to find the glow gone. The suddenly freezing tiles under his bare feet, causing his hunter instincts to kick in. Something was definitely off. Tensing he just had time to push himself up against the wall, when a sudden wind rushed past him dropping the world into darkness.

It only lasted a second, then the lights kicked in leaving him standing in a perfectly normal corridor, feeling very confused. His confusion increased when he looked up to see, little Andy Cartwright staring at him sucking his fingers.


	2. Always look on the bright side of life

**Ghosts of Christmas **

**Chapter 2**

**A trip to the hospital brings up bad memories and some unexpected Christmas spirits. **

**Thanks to everyone who wrote a review for this story, you're all really nice. I might try writing under the influence of strong flue medication again, it seems to work. There's only one more chapter, which should be up soon, so hopefully people will still be feeling Christmassy. Again let me know what you think.**

**Disclaimer: Don't own them, just play with them.**

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Sam was still staring at Andy, when Margaret came around the corner looking for the little boy.

"There you are Andy, you know you're not supposed to go wandering about after lights out." She glanced up at Sam a concerned look on her face. "Honey you don't look so good. How are you feeling?"

Sam blinked a couple of times before answering. "I'm fine, really. I was just looking for the restroom."

She didn't look convinced but let it drop, giving him directions back up the corridor.

Sam nodded and left, he really needed to talk to Dean.

Back at their room though, he changed his mind. He just couldn't bring himself to wake his brother not when he looked so peaceful, he couldn't remember the last time Dean had got a descent nights sleep but he new it was before their father had died. The spirit hadn't seemed malicious surely it could wait till morning.

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Sam woke to a callused hand being pressed against his forehead. "Man, your burning up."

Sam just grunted, trying to bury himself deeper under the covers, he was freezing.

"What you doing Sam, trying to cook in your own juices?" Asked Dean as he tried to untangle the mass of bedding that claimed to be his brother, only to get his hand slapped away for his efforts. "Fine but I'm telling the doctor when she comes round."

Sam managed to force his eyes open enough to give his brother a look of complete loathing but didn't answer, quickly falling back to sleep.

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When Sam next woke it was to Dr. March peering into his face. This time he sat up as hitting her too probably wasn't an option.

If the doctor had looked harassed yesterday, today she looked positively haggard but she still managed to give him a slight smile. "Morning sunshine, let's have a look at you shall we."

Sam submitted to the exam with as good a grace as he could manage, which wasn't saying much, his head was killing him and couldn't stop shivering. Next to him his brother looked pale but decidedly chipper. It was annoying.

"I wouldn't worry too much it looks like it's just a really bad cold." She said addressing Dean as Sam seemed to be entirely disinterested. "I'll get him some pills to help with the fever, but apart from that I'd just suggest a long hot shower to try and move some of that phlegm." She rubbed her chin thoughtfully. "I'll give him a vitamin shot as well, he seems a bit anaemic and it can't hurt."

Dean grinned at the thought of his brother getting stabbed, he hated needles. Unfortunately the doctor noticed his glee. "Forget it boy'O you're getting one too. I've seen your blood work and judging by the results I'm not sure you'd recognise a vegetable if it bit you."

Sam let out a short barking laugh, which quickly degenerated into a hacking cough.

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A couple of hours later he was finally on his way to feeling human again, the doctor had been right about the shower. The only problem was now he couldn't stop his nose running.

He had filled Dean in on what he had seen and what he suspected. They had both agreed to keep an eye on the boys and some further research, if it really wasn't their parent haunting the hospital the last thing they wanted to do was traumatise the children further by digging up their parents.

In truth though Sam had no doubts, their deaths had been sudden and violent, and in the end what parent could rest easily not knowing the fate of their children. Still it didn't mean they were a threat, their own mother had hung around for decades without doing anyone any harm, although for their sakes he hoped the moved on soon. The idea of his mother trapped alone in their old house still gave him nightmares.

Heading back to Dean he was a little perturbed to find a short bald man in a white coat blocking his way an annoyed expression on his face. This couldn't be good.

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In the cold light of dawn Dr. Williams was having second thoughts about his decision to ignore Marchs insubordination. Who new what kind of trouble these men were in and letting them interact so closely with the children was bound to open them up to public scrutiny. Yes better to nip it in the bud now before things got too complicated.

Spotting one of the objects of his ire coming down the corridor he moved to block his path. "You, young man I have some questions for you?"

Sam stopped and faced the man giving him a slightly confused but polite look, as if to say 'Who sir, me sir?'."

"Can you explain to me how you came to be in my hospital with no insurance and no means to pay for your treatment?" This man definitely wasn't friendly.

Sam opened his mouth to speak deciding to go with the all American college boy approach.

"I'm taking a year out to go road tripping with my brother, before continuing with my studies." Sam shrugged and looked down at his feet as if embarrassed. "I'm afraid things got a little bit away from us."

"Where did you go?" The man way clearly suspicious.

"Stanford, sir." Sam smiled politely. "Pre-law."

The mans eyes widened slightly at the mention of the prestigious university.

"My brother Edward went there. Does Judge Grant still teach?"

Sam sensing he was being tested, shook his head. "Sorry, I've never heard of him, he must have been before my time." Or never existed he thought silently.

Sam paused as something occurred to him "Edward Williams the eighth circuit judge who over throw Whitman vs. Grand Forks city council. Professor Lee still goes on about it, he said it was one of the ballsiest rulings" He wisely left out the part about the Prof. having thought he was stupid for having made it. "he had ever seen, he said he couldn't credit one of his students with having made it."

The man visibly preened under the reflected glory before continuing in a slightly more kindly manner.

"Don't you have any family who could help you?"

"No sir, there's just me and Dean."

That gave the man pause, but it didn't last long. "Um well, just see that you don't take advantage of our kindness, I'm responsible for our budget and we have to spend it wisely, don't you know."

"Yes, sir." Pompous little idiot.

"Well you had better get back to your ward, before Dr. March does her rounds."

"I will do. Thank you again Doctor."

With that the over confident little doctor headed on his way, leaving a relieved and slightly annoyed Sam in his wake.

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Dean lent up against the wall of the childrens ward, watching Nathan and Gary tussle for the TV remote when a small gasp of fear drew his attention to youngish man and woman who had just entered the ward. The woman immediately moved forward with every intention of descending upon the scene like an avenging angle, but the man stopped her at the last minute pulling her tight to his chest.

Oblivious to it all the boys fought on, but their mock fight soon erupted into a fit of giggles when the remote, momentarily forgotten in the heat of battle was picked up by Andy who actually decided to use it to turn on the TV rather than as convenient trophy. Laughing the two older boys flopped down on either side of the small child, their fun had. Now clearly content to concede victory and hence control of the remote, for the time being at least.

"Mr. and Mrs. Barns good to see you, as you can see Gary is doing much better today. You should be able to take him home soon." Dr. March had just appeared at the couples side and was smiling at the three boys.

Garys head shot up at the sound of his name, his eyes instantly finding his parents. Dean was shocked by the look on the boys face and by the sound of the twin gasps from his parents so were they, he looked disappointed. Getting up he walked slowly back to his bed and climbed in looking nothing like the energetic little boy who had been tumbling around the floor minutes before.

"Oh God, what have we done." Dean felt like a voyeur as he watched understanding, raw and painful, flood into the womans eyes as she realised that in trying to protect her son, she had taken away everything that made him a child.

"It's not too late honey, we've still got time." The man whispered into his wifes hair, clearly he at least had guessed some of this before.

Holding his wifes hand he walked over and sat on his sons' bed only to have the boy duck his head clearly a little worried about his parents response to his horse play. "It's O.K son we're not angry. How about you take us over and introduce us to your friends."

Feeling uncomfortable Dean pushed off the wall to head back to his room, wanting to give the little family some privacy.

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Dean returned to his room and was more than a little surprised to find Dr. March sitting on his bed, facing away from the door. Hearing him enter, she got up and blew her nose noisily before turning around. She had clearly been crying.

"Are you alright?"

"No." He took her arm and led her back to the bed. Sometimes strangers were easier to talk to than friends.

"It's Mark, my husband he's gone missing."

"When?" Wasn't her husband in Iraq?

"Three days ago, he and some of his friends had asked permission to go out to a hospital a hundred miles south of Basra which had been badly damaged in resent fighting to try and get the electricity up and running again." She explained. "They got there easily enough, but they stopped checking in on the second day and no ones heard from them since."

She let out an angry sob. "He's an electrician for Gods sake, things like this are not supposed to happen to him."

But Dean new that wasn't true, his Dad had told him enough in the past to know, that guys like Dr. Marchs husband were often the first in and the last out, either setting up forward bases and getting captured enemy assets like airport operational or staying behind to see that any equipment which had to be abandoned was useless to the enemy. He suspected that the good Doctor new this as well, but just didn't want to see it right now, so he kept silent and just listened.

"Nobody will tell me anything, to be honest I don't think they have a clue what is going on. Mark could be dead and I wouldn't know." She was looking straight at Dean now. "How to I cope with that, with the not knowing?"

"Well you have to always look on the bright side of life?" Dean shrugged uncomfortably, not quite knowing how to handle the situation. He generally didn't consider himself the type of person people blurted things like this out to, preferring to keep to his policy of 'No chick-flick moments' whenever possible, but right now he seemed to be stuck in an endless stream of them. The food poisoning must be affecting his brain. Although Sam would probably claim it was Christmas spirit, he'd always been way too fond of this holiday.

The Doctor looked at him as if trying to decide if that way the best or the most insensitive thing anyone could have said under the circumstances, but just as Dean was beginning to worry that he might have said something terribly wrong, she burst out laughing.

"Oh God, I wish Mark was here. He'd just love you, that's exactly the kind of idiotic thing he'd say." She smiled at Dean fondly before turning thoughtful. "Although 'The life of Brian' is probably a good one for the Middle East at the moment with all that conflicting religious and political views being thrown around, they're both really just strange comedies." She said sadly before getting up to leave, but before she could Dean stopped her.

"Look my Dad was a marine and he was one tough bastard to kill, I'm sure your husband will do everything he can to get back to you. You just have to trust him."

"Your right." She smiled "Thanks Dean, you're a good listener." Dean raised an eyebrow, he didn't think anyone had called him that before, this day was just getting stranger and stranger.

"Oh and Dean my names Kate." She gave him a slightly embaressed smile, as she turned to walk out the door. "I only usually blub to people I'm on a first name basis with."

Looking up he was surprised to see Sam standing in the doorway looking pensive.

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Sam hadn't meant to eavesdrop on the Doctor and his brothers conversation but he had and he didn't like the feelings it had stirred up in him. It was like he just didn't know Dean anymore. He new he had missed things when he went away to collage but between the way his brother had interacted with the kids last night, then the Doctor now and the constant references to British comedy, he was beginning to wonder if he had ever known him at all.

Stepping tentatively into the room he cleared his throat determined to make amends for his lack of knowledge. "Dean since when do you like British comedy?"

Dean blinked, his mouth dropping open slightly, clearly this was a question he never expected to be asked.

"I mean is this something new or have you always like it?"

Responding to the pleading look in his brothers voice, he answered even if he still didn't have a clue why the kid was asking.

"No it's a pretty resent thing."

Sam continued to look at him expectantly so he continued, trying to figure out what his brother wanted to hear.

"It was a couple of month after you left for Stanford, Dad wasn't taking it very well and things got kind of rough between us for a while. Anyway we got sloppy and ended up stuck up a mountain in Wyoming with no gear and some totally freaked out backpackers, when a pack of Hell hounds attacked." Dean paused looking at his hands uncomfortable.

"Things got bad and we had to walk out, it was miserable, it just wouldn't stop raining. I was walking with one of the girls a Brit, she had been pretty badly cut up in the attack but we were all injured to some degree, so she had to walk. I remember we'd just got to the top of what we thought was the last hill, only to find it wasn't. We were all about ready to give up and she starts singing this song 'Always look on the bright side of life' and she doesn't stop till we make it to town. She just wouldn't give up and wouldn't let the rest of us either." Dean gave Sam a wry look.

Oh she sung other ones 'Every sperm is sacred' was particularly good, but that was that one that really stuck in my mind." Dean suddenly smiled at Sam as if he actually remembered it fondly.

"Once we got out of hospital, she gave me a bunch of Monty Python DVDs. After that when Dad got to much I'd watch them on the laptop and pretend to be doing research, I must have watched the 'Life of Brian' over a dozen times. I've liked that kind of stuff ever since. The Brits have a thoroughly weird outlook on things and it kind of fits the lifestyle."

Sam looked at his brother sadly, he had never really thought about how his leaving would affect his Dad and Dean, he'd always just figured they'd carried on as before hunting and hustling with barely a thought to the loss of their inconvenient third wheel.

He paused. No that wasn't entirely true, he new Dean would miss him and worry, he just chose to ignore it because it was easier to go on if he pretended the spilt in his family was what they all wanted but the truth was nobody had even thought to ask Dean what he wanted.

"Dean I….." Sams voice trailed off, how do you apologies to someone who's loved and protected you your entire life for walking away?

"Forget it kid, you didn't do anything wrong. You wanted a better life, that's nothing to be ashamed of." Dean fixed him with a hard stare, willing him to understand. "Dad and I patched things up soon enough. We made a pretty good team the two of us."

Sam could hear the loss in his brothers voice when he spoke of their Dad, he felt it too. He had lost so much time with both of them, because of nothing more than stubborn pride and now with their Dad at least he would never get the chance to make amends.

"Dean did Dad ever talk about me……………….you know after I was gone." Sam grimaced slightly at how inarticulate he had suddenly be come.

Dean gave him a sympathetic smile, understanding. "Yeah kid he did." He shifted so his elbows came to rest on his knees once more feeling uncomfortable, this day really was turning into one giant chick-flick moment, but he continued anyway because Sam needed it and he could never deny his brother anything, at least not for long. "He loved you Sam, never stopped. He was just scared, that if you left the family he wouldn't be able to protect you…. and because it was you and Dad we're talking about it all came out as an angry shouting match. " Dean smiled fondly. "You two were never the best at communicating. Too much alike I guess."

Sam smiled, it was funny how being compared to his Dad was no longer something to be complained about, it was just a shame their understanding had come to late.

Both of them sat in silence for a couple of minutes, before they were interrupted by Nathan and Gary tumbling through the door. "Dad says you've got to come and play cards because we're killing him." Garys words were practically tumbling over each other in his excitement.

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This Christmas Eves was turning into one of the best Sam had ever spent, it was also one of the most surreal. Carol and Ben Barnes turned out to be a complete riot, more than happy to get involved in any games Dean and the children could come up with, even if Carol did have occasional reversions to over protective mother mode, but the best thing about the afternoon was Dean.

Ever since their Dad had died Dean had been on edge, his mood fluctuating from sullen to down right scary but today it was as if somebody had lifted a giant weight from his shoulders, he laughed, goofed around and smiled more than Sam could remember seeing him do in years. Sure he still looked like death warmed up and tired easily (not that Sam was any better he still felt like his brains were dribbling out of his nose), but it didn't seem to get him down, not even Nurse Ellens 'juice therapy' was capable of doing that.

Ellen, Margarets daytime counterpart had taken an instant shine to Dean and had taken to dosing him with large quantities of organic vegetable juice whenever she thought he looked tired or peaky, which was pretty much all the time. He was beginning to think she had overheard Dr. Marchs comment about him not knowing a vegetable if it bit him and was trying to give him a years supply in one go. Still it wouldn't have been too bad if she had stuck to carrot juice, it was actually quite sweet but the beet juice with extract of citrus seed and Oregon grape was disgusting and everybody had drawn the line at pure garlic juice.

Of course it didn't help Deans case for being let off this onerous treatment that the children insisted on trying every single one of the concoctions, even after seeing the faces he invariable pulled upon first tasting them and took too daring each other to take larger and larger gulps of the vile concoctions. Then to top it all off, when Dean had turned to Carol for help she had just smiled sweetly and pointed out that she really couldn't object as the juices were both organic and sugar free, a comment which caused Gary to squirt beet juice out of his nose.

However the highlight of the afternoon at least from Sams point of view had to be when Susies parents came to collect her. Devastated at being separated from Dean, she tearily presented him with a picture of a violently pink horse and much to his brothers consternation insisted on a hug.An uncomfortable experience for Dean as it took place under the wary eye of the childs father who looked like he bench pressed pick-up trucks for fun. Fortunately, her mother seemed to be finding her daughters first crush as funny as hell and even gave Deans arm a sympathetic pat on the way out the door.

Things were just beginning to calm down for the night when a woman in a dark suite walked in looking like thunder.

"Oh Shhhhhhhhhhh……oot" Amended Kate glancing at the now giggling children as she got up to greet the woman. "Back in a mo."

Kate immediately tried to steer the woman into the wards tiny office, she wouldn't have any of it and soon the two women were engaged in a quiet but heated debate. All the humour in the room evaporated, as the temperature in the room began to drop both literally and figuratively. Sam gave Dean a slight nod to acknowledge the temperature drop when he looked in his direction before turning his attention back to the two women, while Dean concentrated on calming the kids. He was disturbed to see the dark suited women gesture violently in his direction. The last thing he and Dean wanted to do was cause Kate any trouble.

Dean exchanged worried looks with Carol and Ben; all three children were getting agitated, Nathan moving to Carols side to be closer to his brother who nestled wide eye in her lap, while Gary took shelter under his Fathers protective arm.

Suddenly the lights began to flickered, a spoon rattled against one of the plates, as the room began to shake. Dean and Sam were on their feet in an instant scanning the room threats, in the distance the EMF detector Sam had left on in their room began to scream.

A light bulb exploding overhead brought the womens argument to an abrupt halt when Kate rushed back to help, as the Barnes began to drag the children into the doorway, clearly thinking they were experiencing an earthquake.


	3. Memories

**Ghosts of Christmas **

**Chapter 3**

**A trip to the hospital brings up bad memories and some unexpected Christmas spirits. **

**Thanks to everyone who wrote a review for this story, bally2cute thanks for the sympathy but I'm off the wacky flue meds now so you'll have to tell me if my writings suffered. I also have to apologies, I know I said there would be only one more chapter but the story kind of got away from me so now there's two. I'll finish up as soon as possible. Again please let me know what you think.**

**Disclaimer: Don't own them, just play with them.**

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The rest of the light bulbs in the ward began to explode, showering them with glass. Covering his head Dean grabbed for the saltcellar which had been left on the table from dinner, it was the only weapon in sight and he was amazed just how much that unnerved him, but just as his fingers brushed its sides the world just stopped.

Silence fell and everyone held their breath waiting to see what would happen next, but nothing did and after a few minutes they all slowly emerged.

"O.K, that was weird." Commented Ben obviously a little freaked out by what had just occurred, everyone else had to agree.

"Sam, did you see what happened to the suite?" Asked Dean casting his eye around for the officious looking woman.

"She ran." Smirked Sam, but then something occurred to him and looked at his brother, worried. He was just about to say something but Kate spoke first.

"Yes, she always puts the welfare of the children first, that one." Her voice dripped with sarcasm and she snorted derisively, gaining her funny looks from all the adults. "Sorry." She apologised slightly sheepishly.

Sam ignored both the comment and the apology, and dragged his brother to one side. "Everything stopped the instant that woman ran out of the room. Who the hell way she?"

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It took awhile to get the children calmed down and the place tidied up, but once they'd finished the two Winchesters went in search of Kate, they needed answers fast.

They found her sitting on the edge of the desk in the wards tiny office, face as thunderous as the woman in the suites had ever been. Silently she gestured for them to shut the door clearly not trusting herself to speak, but once the door was closed she began to vent. Dean silently exchanged a look with Sam, for once there was going to be no need to ask questions.

"What a BITCH!" To Sam she sounded so much like Dean it was positively scary.

"The best interests of the children, my arse. She wants a headline." She was pacing now. "I can see it now Dedicated CPS officer gives up holidays to saves children from incompetent Doctors and disease ridden, and possibly criminal hobos."

Dean stiffened slightly at the word criminal but Kate didn't seem to notice, she was on a roll.

"It's just the kind of human interest story you want at Christmas, it doesn't matter that there isn't a jot of truth in any of it. She'll probably get a promotion, which I'm sure is the point." Hand gestures had now been added to the pacing, Sam had to duck to avoid some of the wilder ones but at least no one seemed to have twigged to there false IDs.

"Who cares that two little boys, who have only just lost their parents, are now going to loose each other. It's just the price of playing the game." Finally running out of steam, she flopped back onto the desk to catch her breath. Giving the Winchesters time to process what they had just been told.

"Wait a minute, are you saying they're taking the kids away because of us?" Dean sounded devastated.

"No, Dean. Sam, no." Kate looked shocked that they would even consider that to be true. "If it wasn't this she would have just found something else or she'd just say that children should have a home for Christmas. Which she would be right about, it's just that they need to be together more."

She ran a tired hand over her face. "This is what she's wanted all along, she just waited this long so everybody I could have called to try and stop this would be uncontactable."

"Will she take them tonight?" Sam asked

"No. It'll be tomorrow. A Christmas day rescue sounds so much better than a Christmas Eve one." She looked sad and drained but also thoughtful as if something had just fallen into place. "You guys have been through this haven't you?"

Dean flinched and Sam reached out to grip his shoulder, when the hell did they become so transparent. When Dean didn't answer Sam nodded. "Yes, when I was six. Our Dad got injured and had to be taken to hospital unconscious, we were home alone. They didn't figure it out for a couple of days but when they did CPS got involved."

Dean snorted angrily. "We were fine and we would have continued to be fine." Sam new that his brother still blamed himself for what had happened, when CPS had turned up they had been fine and were just sitting down to a meal of sausages and spaghetti Os on toast. Unfortunately the officials had just taken Deans proficiency as a care giver as an indictment against their father, although to be honest the shotgun sitting in the corner probably hadn't helped either.

Sam continued. "Don't get me wrong Dad did the best he could, but things were hard after Mom died and I don't think he ever really recovered, so we moved around a lot and money was always tight, even though he had to work a lot." Sam looked down at his hands. "I guess they thought the fact that he'd never laid a finger on us and would have done anything to keep us safe, wasn't as important as going to the same school every year."

"You went to Stanford on a full ride kid, I don't think your education suffered all that much." Dean was still incredibly bitter about the whole thing and Sam new why.

"We were in a group home together for about three months before they decided to split us up. I heard one of them say I would be easier to get adopted alone, they thought Dean was too old for anyone to want." To be torn away from your family was bad enough but to have it made clear to you it is because you're not good enough for anyone to ever want is a thousand times worse, and that is exactly what they did to his brother.

"What happened? How did you get to stay together?" Asked Kate, she new it was hard to find families willing to adopt more than one child and it was even harder once those children got past the cute little kid phase, but splitting children up so they were easier to adopt, it was unforgivable.

"A friend of the family, Father Murphy managed convince them to let him take us in till Dad could get himself sorted, or rather he finally got the Bishop to convince them." Sam smiled, he had no idea what strings Jim had had to pull but he was pretty sure that he had gotten his entire congregation involved and driven the Bishop half mad by the time he had finished. It was certainly true that afterwards Bishop Radolfus seemed to consider Jim Murphy to be the hard headedest bastard he had ever met, although fortunately he still seemed to enjoy their verbal sparing immensely so things couldn't have gone that badly.

In the end they had only been separated for a week but of all the things that had happened that summer, it was what that separation had done to Dean that he found hardest to forgive. Whereas Sam had been sent to stay with a young couple with a dog and a little girl about his own age and had generally had an O.K time of it, even if it had taken him days to stop crying, Dean had been sent to another group home, this one filled with teenage boys all at least a couple of years older than him. Dean never spoke about the home afterwards but the quite, pale child, who had emerged from the other side of the whole experience, was nothing like the confident and energetic boy Sam new as his brother. Indeed for weeks after, and for the first and last time in their lives it was Dean sneaking into his brother bed at night seeking comfort and reassurance (not that he would ever admit it, even back then). It had taken Dad and Pastor Jim months to convince the little boy that he wasn't damaged goods and was truly loved and not just tolerated by those around him. To be honest he didn't think Dean ever completely got over what had happened.

"Well I'm glad he got you back, I don't know your Father but he certainly raised you boys right." Dean smiled sadly and Sam blushed slightly at the compliment.

"What are you going to do?" Asked Sam breaking the brief silence.

"I don't know, there may not be anything I can do, at least not till after the holidays."

"So you're just going to let that bitch take them." Dean sounded like he was almost angry with her.

"Dean I'm not going to let this drop, but if I make too much of a fuss now I could end up just making this worse. God, I'd even take them myself if they'd let me." She smiled sadly, thinking of her own messed up life. "Mind you with the lifestyles me and Mark have I not sure they would be wrong to stop me."

Dean nodded, knowing both statements were probably true, although he was sure Kate would make a great Mom.

She sighed. "You guys had better get to bed before Margaret goes on a rampage. I'll make some phone calls and let you know what I can come up with in the morning."

Dean didn't get up, there was still one important question to ask. "Kate what happened to the boys parents bodies?"

If Kate was surprised at the question she didn't show it, but then again in her world it was probably a perfectly normal question.

"The family had no saving and no relatives who wanted to take an interest, so the county took care of it. They're at Fairview, a local charity paid for a marker." The look on her faced said that this was sad but not uncommon.

"So the county buried them just like that." The elder Winchester was a little surprised it had happened so fast, he thought the accident had been fairly recent.

"Fraid so the coroner doesn't like bodies clogging up his morgue and it was a very cut and dry case, the other driver has already taken a plea. They didn't bury them though; the county does cremations now it's cheaper." She shrugged and gave them a sad smile. "Budget cuts."

Dean nodded and walked out of the office, dragging his brother with him. This was not good.

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"Shit." Dean ran a worried hand over his face before sitting down on his bed. All his good humour from earlier had evaporated and now all he could feel was a cold dread. It was happening again.

Sam sat down next to his brother so their shoulders pressed together, understanding at least in part what Dean was going through but also knowing that right now it wasn't their biggest problem.

"Dean if they've been cremated, how can it be them?"

"We've seen it before with that painting girl and even that killer truck."

"Yes but that was a doll created in the girls own image, I doubt a left over vial of blood or tissue sample would have the same affect. As for the truck it was part of that whole mess, by using it to kill the way he did he must have infused it with some part of his spirit, besides which it had spent decade soaking bits of the guy up. I don't see how either of those scenarios could be the case hear."

You're forgetting part of them does still exist and it's definitely in their image…at least partially."

Sam stared at his brother trying to figure out what he was going on about. Then as realisation slowly began to dawn, his jaw dropped.

"Dean you can't be serious. The children?" Sam ran a shaky hand through his hair. "If

that was the case, they haven't we seem it before? Kids parents die all the time."

Deans forehead furrowed as he tried to sort out his thoughts. "Yeah but these circumstances were a bit unusual, both parents died violently thinking their kids were still in danger, and knowing that their was no one else to look after them if they were gone. Plus the children were in close proximity and probably semi-conscious which would make it easier for the spirits to latch on to them."

Sam gaped at his brother, sometimes Dean was just scary. He was also probably right.

"So how do we get rid of them? The way things are escalating, doing nothing isn't an option any more."

"I don't know Sam but if they separate the kids or if anyone hurts them this could go to a whole new level."

Dean slumped back on to the bed. "God Sam, how did things get this bad? They were obviously good people in life, and loved their kids. How can they think this kind of haunting behaviour, is going to help them? Things are going to be bad enough for the kids as it is, what's it going to do to them if more people start dieing around them? And that will be the next step Sam, I can feel it."

"You're still thinking of them as human Dean. When they died, maybe because of how they died, I think they lost the best parts of themselves. They've only got one focus now, to protect their children at any cost but I don't think they can see beyond the basics any more to see how much they could end up hurting other people or even their own children. I mean, the children could have easily been hurt today, with all that flying glass. What parent would put their children in danger like that?"

"So what are we supposed to do, grab the kids and run so nobody else is put in danger? Even if Ma and Pa don't currently think we're a threat, what kind of life is this for a kid."

Sam blinked in surprise to hear his brother refer to their lifestyle in anything other than a positive manner.

Dean continued. "If Jim was still alive maybe he could help but he's not and we don't exactly know anybody who would be good at raising kids. Then there's Kate, what do you think they would do to her we took the kids, they would crucify her just for being nice to us."

The two of them sat in silence for a long time trying to think of a solution to their problem but none were forthcoming. Finally Sam spoke. "There's an old Latin blessing in Dads journal that might help. It's intended to help appease restless spirits or at least forbid them from hurting anyone. It's not very powerful and I doubt it will work for long, especially not when these spirits have such a powerful motivation to protect the kids, but it might buy us some time to come up with something better. The only problem is it has to be preformed in the presents of the spirits so we'll probably have to wait until the next time the suite annoys them, so it could get messy."

Dean nodded and reached for their Dads journal, Sam was right they needed to buy some time, after all a hospital wasn't exactly the easiest place to do research from. So with that in mind the two of them set about memorising the blessing.

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They'd been at it for a little over an hour and Dean was taking a brake, when Nathan appeared at the door, his face pale. He immediately walked over to Dean and buried his head in his shoulder. Dean responded instinctively and wrapped his arms around the child, shooting Sam a surprised look as he did so. Sam just shrugged and ducked his head pretending to go back to reading their Dads journal, whatever was up with Nathan he had made it very clear he wanted his brother to be the one to deal with it.

"I not a very good big brother."

Sams heart clenched at the words and the look on his own big brothers face when they were spoken. This couldn't be happening, not again.

Dean recovered quickly, needing more than anything else to make this better for the child. Giving the boy a brief hug he pulled boy away from his chest so he could look him in the eye.

"Nathan." He said, gently demanding the boys attention. When he finally looked up he continued. "What makes you say that?"

"They're trying to take Andy away from me, they wouldn't do that if I was any good." Dean was shocked to hear his own thinking at that age reflected back to him. "I couldn't save Mum and Dad, and I couldn't stop Andy from getting hurt." Sobbed the child, looking at his feet once more.

"Nathan, look at me son."

Sam sat in the corner now openly staring he had never heard his brother call anyone son before and it brought home to Sam just how much this brother was giving up by choosing the life they lived.

"What happened to your parents was an accident, so was Andy getting hurt, there was nothing you could do and nobody blames you for what happened. You were hurt to remember."

"So why do they want to split us up?" The kid clearly wasn't convinced.

"Sometimes when grown ups start thinking they know what's best for everyone, they stop seeing what it actually best for them. The people who want to split you up think they're doing the best thing for both of you but they're not." Dean didn't say that while this maybe the case most of the time he certainly didn't think it was the case this time.

"That's silly." Exclaimed the child and Dean had to agree.

"You're telling me kid" Dean smiled at the boy. "Look Nathan who do you trust more the lady in the suite or Dr. March?"

"Dr. March, of course." There was clearly no question in his mind on that one

"Well Dr. March must think you're a pretty great big brother to be fighting this hard to keep you and Andy together, right?"

Dean smiled at the kid when something else occurred to him.

"Nathan, which ones older out of you and Gary?

"Me. Garys not ten for a whole three months." Both Sam and Dean smiled at how seriously he took the distinction in their ages.

"And you've been helping to look after him while he's been here, sort of like a big brother would, haven't you?"

"I suppose." Nathan answered a little suspiciously.

"And I heard Carol telling Ben how good you were at it, so I guess they must think you're a pretty good big brother too."

Nathan smiled slightly at this, he definitely cared more about Dr. March and the Barns opinion of him than some silly lady in a suite, but then his face fell and he began to cry.

"That won't stop them taking him away from me though, will it?"

"No kid it's wont, but like I said everyone is trying real hard to make sure that doesn't happen." He hated saying it but he couldn't lie to the kid. He felt sick, there really wasn't anything he could do to fix this.

Sam got off his bed at the sight of his brother stricken face and came to kneel in front of Nathan, but when he spoke it was his brothers eyes he met. "Nathan, take it from a little brother no matter what happens you're always going to be Andys big brother and he's always going to need you."

"Are you sure?"

Sam smiled at that and gestured towards the door. "If he didn't it would have probably taken him longer to come looking for you."

Standing in the doorway was Andy sucking his fingers as always, Gary hovering at his side to make sure he didn't fall without his crutch.

"He insisted." Shrugged Gary, by way of an explanation for their presence.

Nathan immediately move to hug his brother, leaving Gary shifting nervously in the doorway until Sam gestured for him to come sit next to him on his bed.

Deans hand moved subconsciously to his wrist. H he wanted to do something for the brothers and he had just had an idea of what. Looking up he met his own brothers eyes. Sam just nodded, understanding.

So Dean began to speak. "When we were kids not much older than you guys we went to stay with a friend of our Fathers who was a full blooded Navaho and a Shaman of his tribe, and one day he help me and Sam make these." Dean pulled one of the two thin leather bands which encircled his wrist off with some difficulty and showed it to the children, they didn't look very impressed. Dean and Sam laughed both at the boys incredulity and the memory of how they had come to get these insignificant looking bands. "I know they don't look very impressive, but you should have seen what he made us do before he tied these on to us. He had us sitting in a sweat lodge for hours in only our shorts, while he chanted and covered us in multi-coloured paints, then he had us drink some really disgusting concoctions that made us both want to throw up." The children were definitely impressed know and were staring at the bracelet as if it had some kind of magical powers.

"Afterwards he tied these around our wrists, one around Sams and two around mine because I'm the oldest and I have to protect him." Sam rolled his eyes at that but Dean just ignored him. "Then he told us that as long as we wore them and continued to love each other, they would help keep us safe and that however far apart we ended up we would always know the other was thinking of us." With that he slipped the band over Nathans wrist doubling it over so it fit, as Sam did the same with Andy. "I think you guys should have them now."

Both of the Cartwright boys looked awe struck at this strange gift, but Gary just sat listlessly on the edge of Sams bed doing his best not to look jealous. Pulling off the last bracelet Dean looked to Nathan and Andy who both nodded solemnly, and he slipped the band over Garys wrist. "I think it's safe to say you're part of this now too, kid." He said and lightly cuffed the boy around the back of the head, causing him to beam with pride. "Now the three of you get off to bed or Santa won't come."

Gary and Andy both nodded earnestly and headed out the door but Nathan moved over to Dean and whispered. "I don't believe in Santa, not any more."

Dean suddenly felt incredibly sad for him even though he hadn't believed in Santa since he was four and their Mom had died, but he new their was nothing he could do to make the child believe so he just lent in a conspiratorial manner and whispered. "Neither do I, but Sam does so lets just keep quite about it, O.K."

Nathan nodded solemnly and headed off after his brother unconsciously rubbing his new bracelet as he went.

"You did a good thing, Dean."

"Yeah, but it's not enough."

To be honest both of them had always more than half suspected that Pete had just been trying to keep them amused and out of their Dads hair for the day when he gave them the bracelets, Pete had always had a slightly odd sense of humour and didn't believe in TV, but it hadn't stopped either of them wearing the religiously, as a silent pledge. Indeed when he had gone to Stanford to pick up Sam that last time he had been incredibly relieved to see that he was still wearing his, fearing that his brother really had put him behind him along with everything else to do with their strange lifestyle.

They sat in silence for awhile before the tension began to build back up to an uncomfortable level and Sam decided to break it.

"What do you mean Sam still believes in Santa, you were the one who told me he didn't exist?"

Dean gave him a look of mock apology. "Well you did till you were twelve which in our family has got to be a record."

"Yeah, well I figured that with all the evil spirits we kept running into it only made sense that there was a few good ones too." He said slightly embarrassed, but then his face changed to a wicked grin. "Besides I really figured it out when I was nine I just had too much fun watching you and Dad running around pretending, to actually tell you. It was so funny when you finally broke and had to tell me"

"You evil little bastard." Dean laughed and threw a pillow at him. "You made me feel like I had shot your puppy or something when I told you that."

Sam caught the pillow and threw it back laughing. "I know."

"Bitch"

"Night, Jerk."

With that they both settled down to try and get some sleep even if they new it would have a difficult time coming.


	4. Christmas

**Ghosts of Christmas **

**Chapter 4**

**A trip to the hospital brings up bad memories and some unexpected Christmas spirits. **

**O.K, sorry about how long it's taken to get this finished. In my defence I've just got a new job and have been given three weeks to move to another country. Anyway thanks for the reviews and please let me know if I finished this up right. Bye**

**Disclaimer: Don't own them, just play with them.**

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"Wake up! Wake up! Wake up!" Dean woke with a grunt, to Gary pounding on his chest. Dam he must still really be sick to not to have heard that coming. He looked up to see Ben and Carol giving him totally unapologetic looks from the doorway, he glared at them but had the good sense to get out of bed before the kid could continue his assault.

Looking over to the other bed he was more than a little annoyed to find Sam, Nathan and Andy sitting there smiling at him, clearly Sam had not been subjected to the same wake up call as he had.

"Morning, Sunshine." Sam grinned, repeating Kates greeting from the morning before, revenge was sweet. "Come on, the kids want to open their presents."

Dean just grunted and let Gary pull him out the door.

"He's not really a morning person is he." Commented Carol smiling.

Sam rolled his eyes. "You have no idea."

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Dean walked into the childrens ward and straight into Kates ecstatic embrace, "He's alive." She laughed into his ear, trying to keep her voice down but not succeeding, she almost deafened him. Returning her embrace, he drew in a breath to ask what had happened but Kate cut him off, gesturing with her head towards the children as she spoke. "Not now, I'll tell you everything later. It's quite a story." She grinned.

She started to pull away but Dean pulled her back and whispered urgently into her ear. "Any luck." He was almost sorry he asked when Kates mood suddenly plummeted. He didn't need any other answer after that, giving her arm a squeeze he turned to the kids, there was nothing else he could do right now.

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Sam entered the ward and moved to stand by Ben and Carol, as they watched the kids rip into they're presents with Deans help. He was surprised to see that Nathan and Andy both had fairly substantial piles of their own. "It was Grays idea." said Carol seeing his surprised and pleased expression. "He said Andy and Nathan should have his presents as they would get more use out of them." Her voice hitched as she spoke and Sam reached out a sympathetic hand to grip her arm but she brushed it off straightening her shoulders and giving him a weak smile. "It's all right….I'm mean it will never be all right but I guess maybe now I'm reconciled to the idea."

Turning to look him straight in the eye, she continued. "Sam you've got understand my sons been sick for so long, and the treatments have been so hard on him, sometimes it's as if the little boy I new is already dead and all that's left behind is a shell, but these last couple of days I've had my son back and that's because of you and your brother." Her eyes were filled with such a depth of gratitude it took his breath away, he felt unworthy of any of it. She gave him a faint smile at the sight of his embarrassment, still unable to speak further herself.

They were both intensely grateful when Ben took up the slack. "We're going to stop treatment, the little extra time it would buy us isn't worth the suffering it would put him through. We're just going to enjoy having our son for as long as we can."

Sam was amazed the strength of these people, they put him to shame. They stood in silence for a while watching Nathan and Gary argue about the best way to set up a small wooden train set for Andy, evidently the Barns had done more than just split Garys presents in three. Finally Ben broke the silence with a sideways glance towards Sam. "A full blooded Navaho?" He quirked an eyebrow, and gave Sam an amused and slightly disbelieving look.

"Well he was a Navaho." Smiled Sam.

"And magic potions?"

"O.K that might have just been a ploy to get us to ingest something other than junk food, Dean doesn't do vegetables." Sam laughed. "Come to think of it, it did taste an awful lot like Ellens Beet juice."

All three of the adults laughed at that, gaining them the attention of the kids, who gestured them over to help with the building project.

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The children happily occupied, Dean got up off the floor and moved to Kates side. He caught hold of her arm and drew her over to one of the far beds. "So what happened? Is he alright?" He was definitely curious.

"Yes, the silly buggers, probably having Christmas dinner right now. I should have known, he always lands on his feet." She grinned happily at Dean, before continuing.

"Anyway long story short, it seems the local Shiite militia decided four American soldiers might just be useful for something or another and came looking for them," Kates lips momentarily compressed in anger. "but the hospital staff didn't think it was very fair that they should get in trouble for trying to help them out, so they hid them."

"So why didn't they get back in touch sooner?" Asked Dean, now even more curious.

"Most of their gear was either in the truck or out of reach because they were working in the roof crawl spaces at the time, so the militia either got it or destroyed it. Plus it was a supposedly secure area in a town known to be moderate, so they didn't see the need to take any special precautions. In fact I think they were trying to avoid them, going into a hospital heavily armed doesn't exactly make you look like the good guys."

Dean had to agree, going in mob handed was usually a mistake.

"Anyway all the radio equipment they had on them was to short a range to call back to the base, so they ended up camped out in some poor surgeons living room watching Turkish knock offs of 'Friends' waiting for the local telephone exchange to be fixed. They called in yesterday morning their time but I didn't get a call until today." She gave Dean a sideways grin clearly not holding a grudge for the delay, at least not now she new her husband was safe. "Military intelligence hu(?), nothing quite like it."

Dean grinned, the whole fiasco reminded him of stories his Dad used to tell about his time in the Marines and in a strange way it made him feel connected with his father in a way he hadn't felt for a long time. Kate smiled clearly recognising something in his eyes.

He smiled back at her . "So they're back then?"

"Oh, nooo." Kate was definitely beginning to enjoy her story now.

"They're sending out a patrol to pick them up tomorrow. I wouldn't feel too sorry for them though, the surgeon they're staying with studied at Edinburgh so can do a Christmas dinner with the best of them, or at least he could if they can find the ingredients. Who knows what they'll actually be eating but then again they've got all the neighbours are feeling sorry for them because they're away from they're families for such an important holiday in their religion, so you never know." She snorted clearly on the verge of laughing now. "As if Mark's been to church since we got married. The best thing is though their commanding officer was so pleased about how the locals helped his men out, they all took one hell of a risk, he's donating one of their back up generators to the hospital, Mark and the others are going to fit it on the way out."

Dean smiled and gave Kates arm a brief squeeze, pleased things were at least working out for someone, now all they had to do was fix things for the boys.

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Things were going well, they were half way through watching the 'Wizard of OZ' which was just slightly less annoying than Dean remembered from when four year old Sammy had got obsessed with the film. The witch had just sent out the flying monkeys to capture Dorothy causing the three children to gasp, and Andy safely ensconced in Carols lap to try and hide behind her hands, when the door flew violently open making them all jump.

"It's the witch." Whispered Nathan clearly scared, Dean had to agree with him. The suite was back.

"I've come for the children." She announced dramatically. Sams jaw dropped, she really did sound like the bad guy out of a panto, it was almost as if she was playing for an audience. Suspicious Sam looked back to the doorway, as three men entered the room, two were large and dressed in suites, while the third looking entirely out of place couldn't be anything other than a reporter.

"If she's brought a reporter, I'll kill her with my bare hands." Kate hissed next to him sounding entirely serious and more than a little dangerous, but it wasn't Kate he was worried about right now.

The temperature in the room had plummeted and Sam could already feel an unnatural tension building in anticipation of what was going to happen next. He edged around the group to get to were Dean stood fixing one of the two Goons with a predatory look. With one swift movement he reached out and pinned his shorter brother to his chest, backing them both away from the group before his brother could do something stupid. Dean didn't resist but Sam could feel the anger rolling off his brother, they didn't have time for this. Temporarily ignoring Dean he began to chant softly.

Kate had quickly moved to intercept the woman and was now trying to usher her into the office talking in hushed tones as she did so, but the witch wasn't playing. "I don't care what your opinion is Dr. March the law is the law, and I am after all only acting in the childrens best interest."

Kates voice rose in annoyance. "In their best interest! Did you tell your reporter friend that you intended to split them up?"

"It's unfortunate but it is for the best in the long run, it will increase their chances of being adopted and allow them to put this whole terrible incident behind them." The witch gave Kate a pitying smile. "In the end Dr. March you must see that this is your fault?" She said gesturing not only at the Winchesters, but at the general chaos that had taken over the ward. "This could hardly be considered a safe environment for any child, I had to act." There was an open threat in those words and she never took her eyes off Kate as she gestured for the two men to get the small brothers.

Suddenly an icy wind howled through the ward seeming to scream with anger as it shook the curtain, it sent lances of pain through Sams head and threatening to reduce him to his knees. Gritting his teeth he continued to chant. Oddly no one else seemed to be being affected the way he was.

Goon number one walked over to Nathan and placed a heavy hand on his shoulder intending to lead him back to his bed to get ready, the little boy was biting his lip stubbornly trying to keep from crying but as the hand fell on his shoulder a small sob escaped his lips. This was clearly too much for Gary who kicked the man in the shin with all the force he could muster causing him to grunt in pain and turn angrily towards the boy.

The whole room erupted into motion. Ben was at his sons side in an instant pulling the boy behind him, looking more than ready to hit the man himself.

The other Goon obviously expecting further trouble all but yanked Andy out of Carols arms, causing the little boy to cry out in fright which in turn caused Nathan to start squirming in Goon number ones grip, as he cried out for his brother.

Then the room began to shake, scattering toys across the floor with a horrendous clatter until Sam who was now almost doubled over in pain managed to choke out the final words of the blessing. Then the shaking stopped but the pain inside Sam head only intensified, he could feel the Cartwrights rage as a physical presents inside his head, the blessing had done nothing to appease them but at least it had stopped them killing anyone which was now clearly their intent.

The Goon holding Nathan evidently sick of the childs squirming gave the boy a hard shake, rattling his teeth and causing him to start crying openly. Dean shrugged out of his brothers grip and surged across the room towards them, he easily broke the mans hold on the boy and pulled him round to face him in one fluid movement.

Sam dropped to the floor with a cry his head exploding, but his eyes never left Dean, he couldn't see his brothers face but he new his look, the elder Winchester was not a man to be messed with lightly. Fortunately the Goon seemed to recognise this and backed off, cowed by the dangerous looking man who broken his grip as easily as he would a Childs.

Dean dropped to his knees and Nathan instantly buried his head in his shoulder sobbing.

"Nathan. Nathan. Look at me." The boy emerged sniffling form his shoulder to look him in the eye. "Remember what we talked about yesterday, about Andy needing you."

The boy nodded.

"Well right now he needs you to be brave because he's really scared." In fact the child seemed frozen in fear and hadn't moved a muscle since the other Goon had picked him up.

"You have to go with these people, for now." His heart broke to say those words, but a least there was still hope, however small. He new Kate wasn't going to give up. "But we're all going to fight real hard so its not forever. O.K?" He reached out and touched the thin leather band than now encircled the boys wrist, willing him to remember what it stood for and hoping that if there was any real magic in the bracelets it would work for the brothers as well as it did for him and Sam.

The boy nodded and touched his wrist, understanding. Then drawing himself up to his full height he moved to walk back to the Goon, as Dean shot the man a 'you hurt him and I kill you' look over the boys shoulder.

The tension in the room ramped up another notch and Sams nose began to bleed from the pressure in his brain. Kate rushed to his side obviously worried.

"Noooo." Carols heart broken sob, cut through the terrible silence like a knife. "Ben please." She pleaded needlessly with her husband.

Ben swallowed hard and he nodded, pulling away from his family to come and stand next to Nathan, preventing the child from reaching the Goon. Placing his hand on the Childs shoulder and turned to face the witch. "We'll take them, both of them."

Sam gasped as the pressure in his head suddenly released and he pitched forwards into Kates arms, Dean rushed to his brothers side.

"It's not that easy Mr. Barnes it takes months to vet potential foster parents."

"I'm not talking about fostering them, I'm talking about adopting them." Gary let out a happy cry bouncing at his mothers side. Nathan and Andy both gasped, looking at Ben with desperate hope in their eyes. "We have more than enough money to look after two extra children and I think you'll find our standing in the community impeccable."

"I am well aware of who you are Mr. Barns, but adoption is a very complicated process and even if you do decide to go through with this once you are thinking rationally." Both Carol and Ben bristled angrily at that comment. "Adoptions are lengthy processes the children would have to be taken into care anyway during that period."

Dean was surprised when Sam got and spoke, wiping blood from his nose as he did so. "A judge could grant an order of temporary custody to cover that period, if he felt it was in the childrens best interest."

Everyone in the room turned to look at him. "Surely, Miss……" He waited expectantly.

"White." She snapped clearly annoyed by this further interruption.

"Miss. White, I'm certain as a conscientious professional dedicated to the well being of these children you would agree that it would be in their best interest to be placed together in a permanent home as soon as possible, so that they can better recover from the tragic events that have brought them under your benevolent care."

"Well yes, but.." Sam cut her off.

"And I'm sure everyone would agree that finding these children such a home under such very difficult circumstances, is nothing short of a miracle and speaks volumes about your commitment to your profession, a fact which I know will not go unnoticed." He gestured towards the reporter who nodded emphatically; the man was evidently too young and to green to be entirely jaded yet, or fortunately for them entirely impartial.

Dean was grinning with pride, he had never heard his brother in full Lawyer mode before, dam he was good. "He's good."

The witch was faltering as she started to consider how much better the scenario Sam was offering her would play to the public than the one she originally envisioned, but she also didn't like being crossed.

"Yes he is," Agreed Kate who was still squatting next to him watching the scene unfold, "but I think it's going to do us about as much good as complimenting a Vogons poetry."

Dean bit back a laugh at the idea of Miss. White as a Vogon, it fit perfectly. "They'll appreciate the compliment, but still kill you just on principle."

But since neither of them could come up with a better idea the two of them just sat there side by side, waiting for the other shoe to drop.

Sams head was still killing him, the Cartwrights had backed off for now, seemingly content to remain silent if the Barnes got their sons, but he could still feel them at the back of his mind and their agitation was rising with each word out of Miss. Whites mouth.

"I will certainly see that Mr. and Mrs. Barns adoption application is given proper consideration but until then the children will be moved to a group home." She gave the Barns who were now sitting huddled on one of the beds with all three kids a look of false benevolence before turning to give Kate a disgusted look. "It would be unconscionable of me to leave them in such a dangerous environment. I will also be asking that the hospital board launch a full investigation into Dr. Marchs conduct in this matter. I'm sure that the board will be particularly interested in how those two came to be hanging around on a childrens ward." She said gesturing to two Winchesters.

"No hospital board can be convened without my agreement and I don't agree." Dr. Williams had entered the room unnoticed and was now clearly pissed, but then so was the witch.

"I don't think you understand the seriousness of the situation, your employee has falsified medical reports to include fictious disease in order to circumvent hospital and CPS policy, and as if that wasn't enough her judgement seems to be so impaired that she's letting vagrants like those boys onto a childrens ward."

Kates face drained of blood, she new that everything the woman said was true, if a board was convened, the fact that everything she had done was to protect those under her care would count for nothing. Dean and Sam moved to stand either side of her, offering their silent support.

They both new what they owed her, the temperature hadn't risen above freezing in the last week and the roads were still down right dangerous. If Kate hadn't taken them in they could be dead by now, and she was probably going to loose her job for it.

Dr. Williams lips compressed in anger, whatever his personal opinion of Dr. March, he had never had reason to doubt her commitment to either this hospital or her patients, but more importantly she was his employee not hers and nobody pissed in his pond. "That boy as you put it, went to Stanford which is hardly known for producing vagrants." The little man huffed indignantly. "As for his brother, your hired thug assaulted a child, under the circumstances I think he showed remarkable restraint and I'm sure if asked anyone in this room would testify to that fact."

Everyone, except the Goons nodded emphatically.

"Very well, I'll just take the children and be on my way." She straighten her suit jacket, pointedly ignoring the threat that underlay the Doctors words.

Sam groaned and a light breeze blew through the ward, the affects of the blessing were already beginning to ware off.

"I'm afraid I can't let you do that, the children are still quite contagious." The balding Doctor gave her a humourless smile. "I'm sure you wouldn't want to be responsible for introducing a contagious disease into a childrens home because you refused to follow medical advice, the press would have a field day."

The witch stiffened with anger, things really weren't going her way. "What the children are.."

"Recovering nicely thanks to Dr. Marchs expert care, but we would want to take the risk now would we. I assure you this contagion is quite dreaded in the U.K and I would hate to see a similar outbreak that place here, simply because the proper procedures weren't followed."

The witch opened and closed her mouth a couple of times for all the world looking like a freshly landed fish. "I must protest, this is highly irregular." She spluttered.

The muscles in Dr. Williams jaw twitched, clearly he was getting tired of the witchs little game and was no longer willing to play. "I suggest you take what have been offered Miss. White, you may be able to threaten Dr. March but you have no such sway with me and you will do as I say or I will have you removed from my hospital."

She could recognise defeat when it stared her in the face, but that didn't mean she had to accept it gracefully. "I can find the door myself."

"Then do it now." The little mans voice was low and dangerous, he seemed to swell in size. He had certainly grown in Sams estimation.

The woman turned and stormed out, trailing the three men in her wake, the reporter still writing furiously. God only new what he made of all of this.

The room relaxed marginally and the tension in Sams head released entirely, he could no longer feel the Cartwrights. However Kate at least still had things to worry about and no one was going to relax entirely when she was still in trouble.

"Dr. Williams I.." The little man gave Kate a hard look and cut her off.

"Dr. March I wanted to thank you for volunteering to run the flue clinic for the next two months."

"Yes, sir." She said meekly, running the free clinics, or the flue clinic as they became nicknamed in winter was a nightmare. Under staffed and under resourced, running the clinic was the most frustrating and thankless job in the hospital, it was also one of the most worthwhile and important jobs in the hospital because for most of the people who used it, it was there last hope. Which made it a strange sort of punishment.

The odd little man nodded at the acknowledgement and began to leave the room, clearly considering the matter closed. The subject wouldn't be mentioned again, but then something seemed to occur to him and he turned back.

"Mr. Barnes do you play tennis?"

Ben blinked in surprised but the nodded his head.

"Good, I need a forth for tomorrow, we'll be playing my brother and Judge Martin." The little man began walk out of the door, calling over his shoulder as he did so. "We're meeting at two at the Hayworth club, don't be late."

When he left the room was quite for the longest time, everyone was in shock, finally it was Ellen who had been hiding in the office for most of the incident who spoke, her voiced awed. "Did he just do something nice?"

Kate just stood pale and wide eyed, her mouth slightly open. She couldn't shake the feeling she had just dodged a bullet. "The dreaded Lurgi." She whispered.

"What?" Ben asked confused and more than a little worried about the doctor.

"He quoted the Goon show, he made a joke." She still looked to be in shock and kept looking around as if she expected the world to suddenly end, or at least the theme music of the twilight zone to start.

Dean grinned and threw an arm over her shoulder giving her a half hug while Sam, now slumped on one of the beds gave them both a tried smile, briefly meeting his brothers eyes letting him now that the immediate danger at least was over.

Letting go of Kate the elder Winchester moved to his brothers side, pulling to his feet. "Come on Francis lets get you cleaned up."

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"You boys want to tell me who you are and what's really going on?" Kate ran a gentle hand over Sams temple pushing his hair out of the way as she cleaned the blood off his face. She didn't sound angry or even particularly worried, just curious.

"The earthquake yesterday, it wasn't an earthquake, it was a couple of angry ghosts."

"Sam." Warned Dean, surprised at his brother.

Kate glanced up at Dean before turning back to checking the reactivity of Sams pupils. "You're telling me we have a couple of poltergeists. That the boys' parents are still hanging around and they're pissed." She sounded surprised and a little incredulous but not particularly shock, which made both Sam and Dean stare at her.

"What?" Dean was looking at her as if she had just slapped him in the face.

"What I'm British, we have more than our fair share of ghosts, we're an old country. Besides you're right that was no earthquake."

"Oh?"

"So you guys ghost busters or something?"

Both brothers were staring at her now.

"Whaaat? Sam was chanting in Latin." Sam did a fairly good goldfish impression, his chin still trapped in Kates hand as she pressed a digital thermometer into his ear, frowning at the results. "I'm Catholic, I even understood half of it. As for Dean here, my husbands a Marine, I've spent a lot of time around dangerous men, I know what I saw."

"Yes, I guess we kind of are. Ghost busters, I mean." Sam was just plain ignoring Deans protests now.

"Oh, that's actually a job." Kate was going a little wide eyed.

"Yeah, it doesn't pay very well though." Commented Dean, smiling at her now, amused.

"Oh." There really wasn't very much more she could say, other than. "Is it over? Have they…..well, moved on."

"We don't know, but I don't think they are going to be causing any more trouble, not now their boys are safe but if anything happens we'll be back." Replied Sam and Dean nodded.

"O.K, that's good. I think." She blinked a couple of times, before focusing back on Sam. "Here I wanted to give you this." She pressed an envelope into Sams hand. "Merry Christmas."

Sam opened the envelope and gapped, the envelope was full of money, it looked to be at least four hundred dollars.

"We started a collection about a month back, to provide toys and entertainment for the kids stuck in here over the holidays, but with one and another we never got around to doing anything with it." She smiled at both of them. "Put it this way, you boys have been very entertaining."

Sam started to protest, pushing the envelope back into her hand, but she stopped him.

"Sam, Dean what you to did here, it was nothing short of a miracle. This," She gestured at the envelope. "this is nothing, but if it helps you it has meaning." She shrugged. "We just want to help you, the way you helped us."

Dean moved to put his hand on his brothers shoulder, squeezing it. "Thanks." He meant it, with all his heart. This money would literally save their asses.

Kate smiled. "Come on, lets get Sam to bed. I don't like his temperature."

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The rest of the day was pretty quite, if you didn't count screaming kids and the fact that Carol would sporadically hug them both, looking as if she was about ready to burst into tears, or laughter, or both. It was a good day, but both men new it was time to move on, they would leave in the morning.

They packed up and said their goodbyes just before the kids went to bed intending to get an early start in the morning, it was emotional for everyone. Andy all but refused to let go of Sams leg and when Nathan trying to appear all grown up solemnly shock Deans hand, only to end up with his head buried in older Winchesters neck, along with Gary who was doing his best to comfort his new brother.

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Sam woke to the EMF meter screaming from inside Deans bag, his brother was already trying to dig it out. Turning it to silent, he motioned his brother to the door and together they headed towards the childrens ward.

Dean stiffened at the sight of the two softly glowing figures standing between the two Cartwright boys beds, as Sam entered the room behind his brother the ghost of Liz Cartwright looked up at them and gave them a grateful smile. Her husband who was bending over to brush a gentle kiss over his eldest sons forehead, moved to join her. Acknowledging the Winchester with a nod, he took his wifes hand and the two of them began to fade, their faces serene.

"Wow." Whispered Sam.

"You think they're really gone?"

Sam nodded the sense of peace in the room was amazing and so was the sense of closer.

Looking back at the boys beds he saw Andy staring at them, sucking his fingers. The two of them moved silently to the little boys side as he regarded the solemnly, Margaret was nowhere to be seen. When they were both squatting by his side, he pulled his fingers out of his mouth and spoke. "They've gone to heaven."

The brothers stared at the boy in shock.

"It's all going to be alright now." The little boy announced with absolute certainty, before turning over to go back to sleep.

Still in shock, Sam tucked the little boy back in. Exchanging looks with his brother, they got up and headed towards the door, feeling oddly calm and for the first time in a long time completely happy.

Dean gave his brother a sideways grin. "Merry Christmas, little brother."

The End


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